


Lose And You Will Answer To Me

by sapphire2309



Series: season seven [5]
Category: White Collar
Genre: Gen, Spoilers for 6x06
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-08
Updated: 2015-03-08
Packaged: 2018-05-25 06:47:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6184813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphire2309/pseuds/sapphire2309
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alan Woodford is a very patient man.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lose And You Will Answer To Me

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was born out of a conversation with reve_silencieux. We were discussing why Woodford was such an unconvincing villain, and then my brain went, 'Wait, maybe...', and then this happened. Also because of Elr's promptfest. There was one prompt - Woodford: Games - that I _really_ wanted to write for, because it made me realize that barely anyone's written him in any significant way. (sapphire2309, champion of neglected characters. Sometimes I feel like slapping myself.) The only problem was, I didn't know _what_ to write. Which meant that the prompt stayed with me, at the back of my head. And now I know what to write! And now I'll shut up.  
>  No, wait. Title from The Ruler And The Killer by Kid Cudi. Okay, now.No, wait. Title from The Ruler And The Killer by Kid Cudi. Okay, now.  
>  **Disclaimer:** White Collar is Jeff Eastin's brainchild. Not mine.

He's been waiting for a while now.

And, as much as it pains him to say it, he's been waiting for a chance at revenge. It's a crude word. It's gotten a lot of men into trouble. But he will win, because no one will see him coming. Not him.

Neal Caffrey destroyed the Pink Panthers almost single-handedly. Got them all in a neat row, trotted them over to the Feds like obedient schoolchildren. And then he died, right before he would have been unmasked as the true mole. That arrangement was a little too convenient for Alan's liking.

But he's a patient man. When no trace of Neal Caffrey could be found anywhere in the world, he waited. For days and months that eventually built into a year, he waited.

Men like Neal are weak, predictable. He only waited till the coast was clear, for the legal system to square away the Panthers, and then came crawling back with his tail between his legs to beg forgiveness from everyone he loves, claiming as his reasons a threat that's only barely credible, barely believable. Because even though Alan Woodford has killed men in cold blood, he's not _dangerous_. He doesn't even know the weight of the gun he's holding.

And that, right there, is his best work.

It's a certain college-boy recklessness he's held on to over the years, like he's just found a gun and discovered how it works, but he's not really serious about it, not even after there's bodies on the floor. He heads a group called the _Pink Panthers_ , for fuck's sake. People aren't going to _believe_ that he's dangerous. They won't see past the rich reckless idiot with the British accent. Not even if they spend their lives manipulating very similar appearances for their own benefit.

But Neal, Neal did, Neal saw past that veneer, just a little bit. He saw something of the threat that Alan was, and made sure that, at the end of it all, he stayed away and protected everyone else too.

And, over time, forgot what he'd seen.

It's a pity that Neal couldn't stay away, because now, he's going to destroy him.

Neal will fall to his knees and beg a man in an orange jumpsuit for mercy, because he lost a game he didn't even know he was playing. And Alan will relish the honeyed taste of revenge on his tongue, and he'll say no.


End file.
